Very nice article, if a little short. I'd like to know more about the facts of this (though I recognize that you're writing up a "Punched" piece, not an article for the New Yorker). It seems to me that Google's stance has a few grounding points.

1) An unwillingness to compromise their closely-held search engine algorithm, which makes Google what it is2) Founding members who are genuinely free-thinking and independent3) An economic interest in protecting ad revenues 4) An irritability with the notion of the government horning in on their enterprise.

Personally, I think the "War on Porn" is idiotic. If people want to buy this stuff (or look it up online) then they are going to do it. Especially "minors." The government needs to spend less time worrying about what Timmy's getting off to, and more time worrying about whether or not Timmy can find the United States on a world map (something that, apparently, more than a few of our countrymen are unable to do).